The exploitation of ocher in the Vaucluse department began around 1780 under the leadership of Jean-Étienne Astier, the founder of the ocher industry in the Pays d'Apt. The stability and the inalterability of ocher in paints made it the flagship product of the region's economic development following the industrial crisis linked to the collapse of the production of Vaucluse steel. Its extraction, processing, and trade were considerably facilitated by the establishment of the railroad in Apt at the end of the 19th century but did not resist, fifty years later, the economic crisis nor the competition from synthetic pigments.